1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an electric compressor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technologies concerning an electric compressor as an electric gas compressor have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-344657 (Patent Document 1).
This electric gas compressor (electric compressor) is used for a cooling system for a vehicle air conditioning system, and includes a compressor configured to compress a refrigerant, and an electric motor configured to drive the compressor. In general, electric compressors are each designed to cool the stators of the electric motor by causing a refrigerant compressed by and delivered from the compressor to flow to the stators.
The electric compressor in the related art includes a partition wall separating an accommodation chamber accommodating the electric motor and another accommodation chamber accommodating the compressor. The partition wall is formed with one refrigerant introducing passage which is constructed so as to connect the accommodation chamber accommodating the electric motor and the other accommodation chamber accommodating the compressor. The partition wall is formed at a lower portion of the partition wall.
In this connection, after the refrigerant passes by the stators and cools the stators of the electric motor, the refrigerant passes through the one refrigerant introducing passage formed at the lower portion of the partition wall, and passes into the accommodation chamber accommodating the compressor.
However, since only one refrigerant introduction passage is provided at the lower portion of the partition wall, it is incapable of cooling all the plurality of stators of the electric motor equally. As a result, under a condition in which a large load is applied to the electric compressor, insufficiently-cooled stators raise their temperature. This leads to a problem that the performances of the electric motor and the compressor are deteriorated.